How To Fix Windows 10 Update Error 0x80070002

Windows error codes are generic. You might encounter the same error code when trying to do two seemingly different things. The error codes are rarely useful enough to resolve a problem for an end user. They rarely, if ever point you to underlying obscure issues that might be causing trouble on your machine. That said, the Windows 10 Update error 0x80070002 is one of the easier ones to fix. It’s simply an update that is failing to install. The resolution is to delete the downloaded update, download it all over again, and then attempt to install it. There are two ways to do this; manually whereby you delete the update files, and automatically via the Windows Update Troubleshooter app from Microsoft. Both methods require administrative rights.

Manually Delete Update

Type services.msc in Windows search, right-click the Services desktop app result and select ‘Run as administrator’. This will open the Service window. Look for the Windows Update service, and stop it.

Next, open File Explorer and go to the following location and delete everything in the Download folder.

C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download

Next, return to the Services window, and start the Windows Update service again. Go to the Settings app, select the Update & Security group of settings. On the Windows Update tab, check for new updates. Download and install any new updates that are available.

Windows Update Troubleshooter

Visit this page and download the Windows Update Troubleshooter app. Run the app with administrative rights i.e. right-click the file that you downloaded and select ‘Run as administrator’ from the context menu.

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Allow the app to check for problems, and apply any and all fixes that it suggests. It may apply all fixes in one go, or it might apply several fixes one-by-one. There’s no risk here that you will lose any files or data. When the app finishes installing updates, it will likely suggest another fix that tells you, you have pending updates available for your machine.

When you see the message telling you there are updates available for your system, open the Settings app and go to Update & Security>Windows Update. Check for updates and the same updates that failed to install when you got error 0x80070002 will be available. Download and install them, and this time, they should install without any problems.

This should fix any update problems that are accompanied by error 0x80070002 however, this method doesn’t fix all Windows update problems. If your commutative windows updates are stuck, you will need to try a different fix.